Israel to reopen Rafah crossing

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Israel will reopen the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, allowing 600 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter the Palestinian enclave, the Israeli public broadcaster announced.

With the reopening, "600 trucks of humanitarian aid will be sent to the Gaza Strip by the UN, authorized international organizations, the private sector and donor countries," broadcaster KAN reported, without citing sources.

The broadcaster specifies that the reopening of Rafah to humanitarian aid, decided by the “political elite”, occurs after the handover by Hamas of four more hostages on Tuesday night, as part of the ceasefire agreement with Israel , sponsored by the President of the United States, Donald Trump.

On Tuesday night, Israeli authorities said the Red Cross had in its possession four coffins of Israeli hostages killed in Gaza, after Hamas indicated it would hand over between four and six bodies.

The families of hostages Uriel Baruch and Tamir Nimrodi announced the return to Israel of the remains of these two hostages, kidnapped by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on October 7, 2023.

On Tuesday, a source in Egypt's security forces said they expected the Rafah crossing in the southern Gaza Strip to reopen "in the next few hours," after agreeing with the Palestinian National Authority to send 100 soldiers, the Efe news agency reported.